Women's weight and eating habits are often tied up with our emotions and how we feel about ourselves. Although we are constantly warned about the growing obesity problem in developed countries, we also see girls becoming concerned about being 'too fat' and dieting at alarmingly young ages. Female fertility is affected by extremes of weight, but there is a wide scale in the middle where both slim and curvy women fall within perfectly healthy weight ranges.
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| Ways To Boost Chances Of Getting Pregnant |
Although stick-thin models may rule the pages of fashion magazines, being really skinny is not going to help you get pregnant, and the chances are that many of these women we often think of as 'ideal' are not fertile. When a woman has too little body fat, it causes her periods to stop, and you can't get pregnant if you aren't ovulating. It will also be much harder to conceive if your body is deprived of vital minerals, vitamins and nutrients.
Women who have eating disorders may not always realize that they are putting their fertility at risk. It is common for women with anorexia to stop ovulating, and bulimic women often develop polycystic ovary syndrome, which affects their fertility.
At the other end of the scale, obesity also has an impact on ovulation. Fat cells produce oestrogen, and excess weight can lead to raised oestrogen levels, which may prevent ovulation by suppressing the pituitary gland and the release of FSH. Women who are overweight are also more likely to have polycystic ovary syndrome. If your partner is very overweight, this could reduce his fertility by affecting his sperm quality.
Weight may affect the outcome of fertility treatment, and there is a lot of debate as to whether women who are very overweight should be offered treatment. It is claimed that assisted conception is less likely to work for obese women, as they do not respond so well to the drugs, and they are also more likely to have problems in pregnancy.
Losing weight is often enough to reverse the fertility problems associated with obesity. However, when women are unhappy because they can't conceive, they may resort to comfort eating, and this can turn into a vicious circle.
'I'm an emotional overeater, so having so much pressure put on to lose weight because of this was really impossible. I found it incredibly difficult because the more upset I was, the more I wanted to eat. In the last few months, because we're going for IVF and I know we're spending all this money, I've found the strength and got my weight down to what it is meant to be.' Lisa, 32.
'I was very overweight. I wasn't particularly unhealthy but I desperately wanted to lose weight, l'd tried every diet under the sun, l'd tried exercise, l'd tried eating healthily, l'd tried absolutely everything. I started a diet where you have nutritional food packs instead of food. It is a very drastic diet, but you do it under the supervision of your doctor. I had six stone to lose and in three months I had lost two stone.' Clare, 34.
Exercise
Apparently most of us don't get enough exercise. It helps maintain our bodies in good working order, as well as increasing fitness and strength. It has just as important a role in keeping us emotionally balanced, reducing stress and making us feel relaxed. It is often beneficial for those who suffer from depression, anxiety or insomnia. There are long-term health benefits too, as it can help prevent high blood pressure and heart problems.
It is hard to find the time to exercise when we're leading busy lives, and sometimes there simply isn't space to fit in a visit to the gym or the swimming pool, but if you don't take any exercise you'll end up feeling tired and sluggish, and your body will not be in peak form for conception.
Don't launch into some manic exercise regime if you usually spend your spare time in front of the television. Try to find a form of exercise that you can fit into your day, start gently and do something you actually enjoy. That way you're far more likely to stick at it.
As always, you can have too much of a good thing, and women who do huge amounts of exercise can have problems with ovulation. We are talking about extremely vigorous exercise here, and it isn't an excuse to avoid a brisk walk around the park, as this problem mainly affects female athletes who are in regular training. To find out more, you can check out Ways To Boost Chances Of Getting Pregnant.
